Football in Croatia

Football in Croatia, called nogomet, is the most popular team sport in the country and is led by the Croatian Football Federation.^[1] It is played in four official components; the domestic league consists of three hierarchical echelons, and a single national team represents the entire state. The first Croat clubs were founded prior to the First World War and participated in the Yugoslavian league structure after Croatia became a part of Yugoslavia following the war. From 1940 to 1944, nineteen friendly matches were played by a Croatia national side representing the Second World War-era puppet states of the Banovina of Croatia and Independent State of Croatia. After the war, most of the prominent Yugoslavian clubs, including clubs in Croatia, were dissolved and replaced with new sides by Marshal Tito's Communist regime. Today, club football in Croatia is dominated by Hajduk Split and Dinamo Zagreb. Since independence, the country has produced a string of players who have performed well in many of Europe's most highly regarded leagues and who took the national team to third place at the 1998 World Cup. ^[1]

Format

The governing body of football in Croatia is the Croatian Football Federation.^[2] It oversees the organization of:

• Leagues:
  • Prva HNL
  • Druga HNL
  • Treća HNL
  • Četvrta HNL
• Cup tournaments:
  • Croatian Cup
  • Croatian Supercup
• National teams:
  • Croatia national football team
  • Croatia national under-21 football team
  • Croatia national under-19 football team
  • Croatia national under-17 football team
  • Croatia women's national football team

Note: the aforementioned competitions are for men if not stated differently. Women's football exists but is much less developed or popular.

Teams

By far the most popular clubs in the country are Dinamo (Zagreb), Hajduk (Split) and Rijeka (Rijeka).

Seasons

The following articles detail the major results and events in each season since the early 1990s, when the Prva HNL was formed. Each article provides the final league tables for that season, with the exception of the current one, as well as details on cup results, Croatia national football team results and a summary of any other important events during the season.

History

Hajduk Split

Zagreb

Slavija Osijek

Slavija Varaždin

Zagreb clubs:

Građanski
HAŠK
Concordia
Viktorija

Teams from the Republic of Croatia which competed in the Yugoslavian football championship from 1923-1940

Football was popularized in Croatia by Franjo Bučar in the late 19th century. During this period, its Croatian name, nogomet, was coined by the linguist Slavko Rutzner Radmilović. The name was accepted into Slovenian as well.

The earliest clubs were founded before World War I - HAŠK and PNIŠK in 1903, Hajduk and Građanski in 1911, etc. However, first Croatian football club Bačka from Subotica was founded in 1901 in the Kingdom of Hungary. In Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatian club Zrinjski Mostar is the oldest in the country and it was founded in 1905. The Croatian Football Federation was founded in 1912.

After World War I, the Croatians played a major part in the founding of the first football federation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, later named the Football Association of Yugoslavia, and its headquarters were initially in Zagreb before they were moved to Belgrade in 1929. During this time, the talented Ico Hitrec played football. In 1927, Hajduk Split took part in the inaugural Mitropa Cup for Central European clubs.

Croatia had its first international football match on April 2, 1940 against Switzerland. During World War II, the Croatian Football Federation joined FIFA as a representative of the Independent State of Croatia, but this was contentious and short-lived as was the fascist puppet-state.

After the war, football was resumed in the second Yugoslavia. The communist regime in the new state quickly moved to ban all clubs who had either participated in the Croatian championship or bore Croatian national names. Many clubs were said to have links to the Ustaše. Victims of this disbanding included top-sides Concordia, HAŠK and Građanski, as well as the major Croatian clubs in today's Bosnia and Herzegovina SAŠK and HŠK Zrinjski Mostar. The largest club to avoid disbanding was Hajduk Split who had refused to participate in the Croatian competition.

At this point several other major clubs were founded - today's GNK Dinamo Zagreb, HNK Rijeka and NK Osijek, to name a few. Most clubs had to maintain loyalty to the regime, and it was common for clubs to have a communist red star as part of their emblem.

Over the following decades, the Croatian clubs performed well in the Yugoslav First League and the Yugoslav Cup. Hajduk and Dinamo formed one half of the Big Four of Yugoslav football (the other two being FK Partizan and Red Star Belgrade). In 1967, Zlatko Čajkovski of German club Bayern Munich became the only Croatian manager to win the European Cup Winners' Cup.

After Croatia gained independence in the 1990s, the football federation was reconstituted and joined the international associations.^[3] The Croatian internationals from the 1987 FIFA World Youth Championship-winning team went on to achieve more success, spawning the Golden Generation who won third place at the 1998 FIFA World Cup.^[4] Since then, Croatia has continued to produce top players. At the more recent Euro 2008, they famously beat 2006 FIFA World Cup bronze medalists Germany 2-1 in a shock win but exited the tournament courtesy of a penalty shoot-out against Turkey in the quarterfinals.

Clubs in European competitions

• Hajduk Split is the only Croatian club to date—either during the Yugoslav period or since independence—to have played in the knockout stages of the European Cup or UEFA Champions League, having reached the quarter-finals on three occasions (in 1975–76, 1979–80 and 1994–95).
• Dinamo Zagreb have qualified for the Champions League group stage on four occasions (in 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2011–12 and 2012–13) but have yet to progress further.
• Hajduk are also the only Croatian club to have advanced past the round of sixteen of the UEFA Cup/Europa League, reaching the semi-finals in 1983–84 and the quarterfinals in 1985–86. They also reached the UEFA Cup's last sixteen in 1981–82 and 1986–87, while Dinamo Zagreb were eliminated in the same round in 1997–98.
• Croatian clubs had their most consistent success in the defunct UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. Both Dinamo Zagreb (1960–61) and Hajduk Split (1972–73) reached the semi-finals of the competitions. Dinamo have also reached the quarterfinals in 1964–65 and 1969–70, while Hajduk were eliminated at that stage in 1977–78. UEFA Cup Winners' Cup is also the only European competition that has seen Croatian clubs other than Dinamo and Hajduk reach the advanced stages. Rijeka reached the quarterfinals in the 1979–80 edition, while Varteks advanced to the quarterfinals in 1998–99, the last edition of the competition.

Best results

The table below lists Croatian clubs' best results in elimination rounds of European club competitions:

Competition	Season	Round	Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
UCWC	1960–61	SF	Fiorentina	4–2	Dinamo Zagreb	3–0	1–2
UCWC	1972–73	SF	Leeds United	1–0	Hajduk Split	1–0	0–0
EC	1975–76	QF	Hajduk Split	2–3	PSV Eindhoven	2–0	0–3 (aet)
EC	1979–80	QF	Hamburger SV	3–3 (a)	Hajduk Split	1–0	2–3
UC	1983–84	SF	Hajduk Split	2–2 (a)	Tottenham Hotspur	2–1	0–1
UCL	1994–95	QF	Hajduk Split	0–3	Ajax	0–0	0–3
UC	1997–98	R16	Dinamo Zagreb	1–2	Atlético Madrid	1–1	0–1
UCWC	1998–99	QF	Varteks	1–3	Mallorca	0–0	1–3

Footballers in international club competitions

UEFA Champions League

The following table lists all Croatian players who either appeared in a UEFA Champions League Final, or were members of clubs which reached the final. It does not include Croatians who were considered Yugoslav players prior to Croatia's independence in 1991.

As of 2016 a total of nine Croatian players are credited as winning the Champions League: Alen Bokšić, Zvonimir Boban, Davor Šuker, Dario Šimić, Igor Bišćan, Mario Mandžukić, Luka Modrić, Ivan Rakitić and Mateo Kovačić, although Šimić, Bišćan and Kovačić did not appear in the finals.^[5]

In terms of appearances, eleven players have played in the final (Bokšić, Boban, Šuker, Živković, Babić, Tudor, Pršo, Olić, Mandžukić, Modrić and Rakitić), but only four players appeared more than once - Bokšić (1993, 1997), Boban (1994, 1995), Olić (2010, 2012) and Modrić (2014, 2016). Two Croatian players have scored a goal in the final match, Mandžukić in the 2013 final and Rakitić in the 2015 final.

Players indicated in bold appeared in the final and players marked with † won the competition.

Season	Final	Player	Club	Notes
1992–93	1993	Alen Bokšić †	Marseille	Starting eleven.
		Zvonimir Boban	Milan	Was not named in Milan's 16-man squad.
1993–94	1994	Zvonimir Boban †	Milan	Starting eleven.
1994–95	1995	Zvonimir Boban	Milan	Starting eleven.
1996–97	1997	Alen Bokšić	Juventus	Starting eleven.
1997–98	1998	Davor Šuker †	Real Madrid	Came on as a substitute in the 89th minute.
1999–2000	2000	Goran Vlaović	Valencia	Was not named in Valencia's 18-man squad.
2001–02	2002	Boris Živković	Bayer Leverkusen	Starting eleven.
		Marko Babić	Bayer Leverkusen	Came on as a substitute in the 91st minute.
2002–03	2003	Igor Tudor	Juventus	Starting eleven.
		Dario Šimić †	Milan	Was not named in Milan's 18-man squad.
2003–04	2004	Dado Pršo	AS Monaco	Came on as a substitute in the 24th minute.
2004–05	2005	Igor Bišćan †	Liverpool	Unused substitute.
		Dario Šimić	Milan	Was not named in Milan's 18-man squad.
2006–07	2007	Dario Šimić †	Milan	Was not named in Milan's 18-man squad.
2009–10	2010	Ivica Olić	Bayern Munich	Starting eleven.
		Danijel Pranjić	Bayern Munich	Unused substitute.
2011–12	2012	Ivica Olić	Bayern Munich	Came on as a substitute in the 97th minute. Missed a penalty in the penalty shoot-out.
		Danijel Pranjić	Bayern Munich	Unused substitute.
2012–13	2013	Mario Mandžukić †	Bayern Munich	Starting eleven. Scored in the 60th minute.
2013–14	2014	Luka Modrić †	Real Madrid	Starting eleven.
2014–15	2015	Ivan Rakitić †	Barcelona	Starting eleven. Scored in the 4th minute.
2015–16	2016	Luka Modrić †	Real Madrid	Starting eleven.
		Mateo Kovačić †	Real Madrid	Was not named in Real Madrid's 18-man squad.

UEFA Europa League

The following table lists all Croatian players who appeared in the final of the UEFA Cup or its successor UEFA Europa League. It does not include Croatians who were considered Yugoslav players prior to Croatia's independence in 1991.

As of 2016 a total of five Croatian players are credited as winning the competition: Mario Stanić, Ivica Olić, Ivica Križanac, Darijo Srna and Ivan Rakitić - although Stanić did not appear for his club in the final. The only Croatian player to have scored a goal in the final match was Nikola Kalinić in the 2015 final.^[6]

Players indicated in bold appeared in the final and players marked with † won the competition.

Season	Final	Player	Club	Notes
1993–94	1994	Damir Mužek	Casino Salzburg	Came on as a substitute in the 1st leg. Unused substitute in the 2nd leg.
		Nikola Jurčević	Casino Salzburg	Starting eleven in the 2nd leg.
1994–95	1995	Robert Jarni	Juventus	Starting eleven in both legs.
1998–99	1999	Mario Stanić †	Parma	Was not named in Parma's 16-man squad.
1999–2000	2000	Davor Šuker	Arsenal	Came on as a substitute in 115th minute. Missed a penalty in the penalty shoot-out.
2004–05	2005	Ivica Olić †	CSKA Moscow	Starting eleven.
2007–08	2008	Ivica Križanac †	Zenit St. Petersburg	Starting eleven.
2008–09	2009	Darijo Srna †	Shakhtar Donetsk	Starting eleven. Club captain.
		Jurica Vranješ	Werder Bremen	Unused substitute.
2013–14	2014	Ivan Rakitić †	Sevilla	Starting eleven. Club captain.
2014–15	2015	Nikola Kalinić	Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk	Starting eleven. Scored in the 7th minute.
2015–16	2016	Dejan Lovren	Liverpool	Starting eleven.

Futsal

Futsal, called mali nogomet (lit. "small football") in Croatia, is also widely played and is sometimes considered as a mini football league. It is often taught in schools and also played by football professionals as a pastime.

The Croatian First League of Futsal is the top-tier futsal competition.

Fans

The Croatian football fans organize in various fan groups such as the Torcida (Hajduk), Bad Blue Boys (Dinamo), Armada (Rijeka), Kohorta (Osijek), etc.

On the international games, the Croatian fans usually wear the checkerboard colors red and white, as they are on the Croatian coat of arms.

References

External links

• League321.com - Croatian football league tables, records & statistics database. (English)